Valve-gear.



"No. 721,190. PATENTEDMAR. a, 1903. Y r. FELDHAUS.

VALVE GEAR.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 2:1902.

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No. 721,790. PATBNTED MAR. s, 1903.;

' F. PELDHAUS. I

VALVE GEAR.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 2, 1902.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

- FRED FELDHAUS, OF AKRON, OI-IIO.

VALVE-GEAR.

EPECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 721,790, dated March 3, 1903. Application filed August 2, 1902. Serial No. 118,082. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, FRED FELDHAUS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Akron, in the county of Summit and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Valve-Gears, of which the following is a specification. 7

My invention has relation to improvements in valve-gears for engines, and particularly that type of engines known as Corliss engines, in which the valves for the admission of steam. are closed by means of the impulse imparted to them by pistons operated by vacuum-pots and are opened by hooks on rocking arms capable of adjustment as to the amount of opening theycan give the valves in accordance with the work required of the engine. I

The object of my invention is to place on the ordinary valve-gear of Corliss engines an entirely automatic device which shall prevent the entrance of steam into the cylinder of the engine without recourse to the throttle, which shall operate whenever the engine is running at too high a speed or when running at so slow a speed as will fail to cause the governor to control the engine.

A further object is to place on said valvegearadevice capable of shutting off the steam from the engine-cylinder at will and Without .using the throttle and susceptible of use in conjunction with said automatic device and without interference therewith.

To attain the aforesaid objects, my invention consists in the peculiar and novel construction, arrangement, and combination of the various parts hereinafter described and then specifically claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

In the drawings, in which similar referencenumerals indicate like parts in the different figures, Figure l isa side elevation of a-Corliss-engine cylinder and one valve-gear with my improvement in place thereon; Fig. 2, a full-sized view of my improvement, with so much of the common gear as is necessary to illustrate its operation. Figs. 3, 4, 5, and 6 are details of various parts.

In the drawings, 1 is the side jacket of the cylinder of a Corliss engine, from which projectsa stationary sleeve or bonnet 2, in which is journaled the valve-stem 3, to the inner end of which is attached the valve within the cylinder-casing. On the front end of the valvestem 3 is a valve-lever held on the stem by a key 5, and to this lever 4 is pivotally fastened the upper end of a rod 6, whose lower end terminates in a piston working in an ordinary vacuum-pot. (Not shown.) On the outer end of the lever 4 and on the rear face thereof is a block 7 of the ordinary type and which is arranged to be engaged by a latch or pick-uplfi, having arms 8 and 9, mounted on a bell-crank 10, journaled on the bonnet 2. This bell-crank is rocked by a wrist-plate (not shown) through the rod 11. Between the bell-crank l0 and the valve-lever 4 is mounted revolubly on the bonnet 2 a cam-ring 12, provided with an arm 13, to which is attached the rod 14, by which the cam-ring 12 is connected to mechanism operated by the governor. O the cam-ring 12 is a cam 15, which is designed to trip the pick-up 16 by encountering arm 9 thereof, causing the notch on the arm 8 to release its engagement with the blo'ck 7', thereby permitting the vacuum-pot to quickly draw down on the rod 6, bringing the lever 4 to the position'shown in Fig. 1, its normal position when the valve is closed.

Thus far the description applies to the valve-gear in common use. In practice it has been found that an automatic device to instantly shut off the steam from the cylinder, with a view to quickly arresting the motion of the engine, is absolutely needed by reason of the work where the load upon the engine is constantly varying, and especially is desirable to stop the engine quickly in case of accidents to employees and machines, as in rubber machinery and hoists, where the usual method of closing the throttle requires too much time. To this end I place on the end of the bonnet 2 a radial arm 17, from which extends a stud 18, on'which is mounted a loose sleeve 19, squared at one end to receive a lever 20, similar to a wrench, and having an eccentric portion adjacent to the square part and with its outer end threaded for a nut 21. Suspended by this stud l8 and inclosing the eccentric part of the sleeve 19 is an L-shaped hanger with its lower right-an- ICO gled leg turned toward the side of the cylinder. Lying upon this inturned fiat arm of the hanger 22 and held in place by a set-screw 23 is a curved arm 24, on one end of which is an inturned lug or boss 25, projecting toward the cam-ring 12 a sufficient distance to lie in the path of cams 26, mounted on the ring 12, whose function will be described later. On the other end of the arm 24 and held by a bolt 28 is an upwardly-acting flat spring 29, terminating in a cylindrical head 30 and with its middle portion bent or curved outwardly from the cam-ring 12. Mounted on the peripheral face of the cam-ring 12 is a shoe 31, having one face curved to match and fit the curve of the cam-ring. On its outer face is a deep transverse groove, into which the cylindrical head 30 of the spring 29 seats. The ends of the shoe 31 slope toward the cam-ring 12. The bolt 28, holding the spring 29, also holds a rigid arm or brace 32, which is so bent as to encounter with its free end the rear inclined face of the shoe 31 for a purpose to be stated.

The upper part of the fiat face of the L- shaped hanger 22 terminates in a lug or boss 33, which is intended to encounter and bear against a plunger 34, mounted in a hollow threaded sleeve 35, held by means of its threads adjustably in a lug 36 on the radial arm 17. The plunger 34 is normally pressed outward by a spring 37, (see Fig. 6,) situated in the sleeve 35. The shoe 31 is retained against the face of the cam-ring 12 both by the spring 29 and the fact that on its inner face it is provided with a dovetailed ridge 38, (see Fig. 5,) which enters a similarly-shaped groove in the face of the cam-ring 19,'constructed by placing thereon two curved plates 39, whose inner edges are inclined to form in conjunction with each other a dovetailed groove.

It will be borne in mind that at all times the radial arm 17, with its suspended parts, always remains stationary, but that the position of the cam-ring is constantly changing, due to the rise and fall of the governor.

The operation is as follows: Motion being communicated to the wrist-plate by the rod from the eccentric on the main shaft of the engine it is in turn applied to the bell-crank by the connecting-rod 11, which rocks, and asjthe end bearing the pick-up descends the notch on the arm 8 hooks under the block 7 on the valve-lever4 and on its return stroke raises the lever, thereby opening the valve in the cylinder through the medium of the valvestem 3. As the pick-up ascends, bearing with it the lever 4, the arm 9 rides along the face of the cam-ring 12 until it encounters the cam 15, out onto which it rides, and as it gradually is pushed outward the other arm 8, following its motion, releases its notch from engagement with the block 7, and the lever 4 isjerked back by the pull of the piston in the vacuumpot. The position of the cam with relation to the tip of the arm 9 is constantly changing, due to the influence of the governorthat is, if the speed of the engine is too high the governor draws the arm 13 to the left in Fig. 1, thereby causing the cam 15 to encounter and release the pick-up more quickly, thus permitting a shorter stroke of the lever 4 and a consequently smaller opening of the valves, and less steam is admitted to the cylinder. This foregoing description applies to snbstantiallyall Corliss engines in motion. In the descending stroke of the pickup the hooked end slides over the outer face of the block 7 and snaps over its end with a decidedly unpleasant clicking report, which is very annoying, and it is customary to pad the hook with leather or some similar substance to prevent this noise; but this is objectionable for a variety of reasons, and to avoid this and for other reasons to be described later I place the shoe 31 at such a position with reference to the tip of the arm 9 that at the instant the hook is ready to engage the block 7 the shoe 31 will encounter the tip of the arm 9 and be forced circumferentially backward a minute distance to enable the hook to grasp the block, by reason of the fact that the ordinary spring used to press in the pick-up is comparatively strong, and all that sustains the shoe in place (at this time) is the spring 37, pressing the plunger 34 against the lug 33 on the L-shaped hanger 22, which is pivoted on the eccentric sleeve 19 on the stud 18 on the radial arm 17. This pivoting of the hanger 22 enables it to tilt a little, with spring 37 as a cushion, and thus the hook on the pick-up is cushioned against a violent engagement with the block 7.

It is believed that it will be seen from the foregoing that if for any reason the shoe 3] is braced against movement (circumferentially) backward at the instant that the tip of the arm 9 encounters it, the pick-up cannot engage and raise the block 7, and consequently no steam will be admitted to the cylinder. Hence if means are placed on the cam-ring 12, whose movements are controlled by the governor, to tilt the hanger 22 and force a brace back of the shoe 31 to prevent its movement the tip of the arm 9 will slide over the shoe, and,following the former reasoning,the engine will receive no operative power. To do this, I place on the cam-ring 12 two cams 26, whose positions are such that when the cam-ring 12 is swung in either direction a distance sufficient to endanger the safety of the engine the cams 26 will encounter the lug and force it outward, together with the curved plate 24, which, being attached to the hanger 22, in turn tilts. This tilting causes the spring 29 to straighten, as shown in Fig. 2 in dotted lines. This straightening of the spring by means of its head 30 working in the groove in the shoe 31 causes the shoe to move slightly outward to encounter a trifle more quickly the tip of the arm 9, thereby preventing the operation of the pick-up. As the plate 24 tilts it swings the brace 32 in toward the cam-ring, and it is so adjusted that when the shoe has reached its proper position it will press against the rear of the shoe and block it against return until the cams 26 are moved from engagement with the lug 25. As soon as the engine resumes its normal motion the cams 26 are free from the lug 25, and the shoe yields to the force of the tip of the arm 9, and the engine receives steam, as before described.

In the above description the action is automatic, and in order to place the same machinery in control of a personas, for instance, a workman in a shop distant from the engine-room-I place a rope or similar connection to the lever 20 and from thence to any point desired, and so placed as to swing the lever on its axis, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4. This swinging of the lever 20revolves the eccentric sleeve 19, causing the hanger 22, which is pivoted'thereon, to tilt in the same manner as has just been described with reference to the engagement of the lugs 26 with the lug 25, and with precisely the same results.

What I claim is 1. In combination with a Corliss-engine valve-gear involving a rocking pickup to raise a valve-openinglever,of a spring-pressed shoe to receive one arm of said pick-up and cushion its engagement with said lever, substantially as shown and described.

2. In a valve-gear of the kind described, the combination of a spring-pressed shoe to receive one arm of the pick-up and capable of movement thereby and means to block said movement, substantially as described.

3. The combination with a valve-gear of the kind described of a cam-ring and cam to release a pick-up, a shoe on the face of said ring to receive and cushion the engagement of said pick-up and a valve-opening lever and means on said ring to block said shoe and prevent the operation of said pick-up.

4. The combination with a valve-gear of the kind described of a cam-ring and cam to release the pick-up, a shoe on the face of said ring, a spring mounted through intermediate means on the support of said ring and capable when its curvature is varied'to move said shoe on said face and means mounted on said ring to vary said curvature.

5. The combination with a valve-gear of the kind described of a revoluble cam-ring,- a cam thereon arranged to encounter and release the pick-up, a shoe to receive one arm of said pick-up and normally capable of slight movement on said ring, a spring-cushioned plate to sustain said shoe and means on said ring to cause auxiliary means on said device to brace said shoe.

6. The combination with a valve-gear of the kind specified, of a bonnet projecting from the cylinderto surround the valve-stem, a radial arm on said bonnet, a cam-ring revoluble on said bonnet, a tilting arm on said radial arm, a shoe movable on the face of said cam-ring, a spring on said arm to actuate said shoe, and means mounted on said camring capable of tilting said arm and moving said shoe on said ring. I

7. The combination with a valve-gear of the kind described, of a bonnet on the cylinder to support a valve-stem, a radial arm on said bonnet, a stud or pivot on said radial arm, a tilting arm on said pivot, a cam-ring revoluble on said bonnet, a shoe on the face of said cam-ring, means mounted on said cam-ring to tilt said tilting arm on its pivot, and means as a spring-plunger on said radial arm to hold said tilting arm normally in position.

8. The combination with a valve-gear of the kind described, of a cam-ring, a shoe to move on the face thereof, a radial arm on the bonnet of said gear, a hanger suspended on said arm, a stud on said radial arm passing through said hanger, an eccentric sleeve on said stud to actuate said hanger, a curved arm on said hanger connected with said shoe, and means to rotate said sleeve to move said hanger and said connected shoe.

In testimony that I claim the above I hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRED FELDHAUS.

In presence of C. E. HUMPHREY, O. P. HUMPHREY. 

